Private - A Natural Tutor

Some time had passed since Majolica had spoken to her druid friend about tutoring some of her Witch Ops members. She had given the woman directions to her cottage and was waiting happily for everyone to arrive.

Majolica was very happy with how things turned out. Not only had she hired a tutor for Janet and Haru, but she had also given Ashiore a way to meet new people. They were forming bonds and hopefully would end up becoming friends. This was important to Majolica, because the stronger the bonds and the greater the number of allies she could secure, the more people she could draw on the next time the world was thrown into chaos.

Hehehe, there will definitely be a next time. And when it comes... hehehe... we'll be ready! Hehe, depending on how this goes, maybe I can even get other Witch Ops members to work with future recruits! Hehehe, everyone could be working together to get stronger! It's easier to get stronger if you have someone training you, hehehe, and it's easier to make sure you know something by being forced to train someone else! Hehe, not that I'm worried about Ashiore. Hehehe, she's a master plant-druid lady! I'm sure both Haru and Janet will learn a lot from her! Then, eventually, hehehe, they can tutor the next generation of Witch Ops members.

Giggling, Majolica contacted Haru and Janet through their Witch Ops Stick Stickers.

"Hehehe, Haru and Janet! Your presence is needed at my cottage in Brisshal! Please hurry! Hehehe, I have a surprise. Also, come ready to work and learn! You'll be worked hard, but at the end of the day, I'll expect you'll learn a lot! Hehehe, and I'm sure you'll continue to learn a lot as you work more and more! Hehehe, no questions thought! Just hurry and come! Hehehe it's a surprise!"

After Majolica sent her message she went outside. The frogs inside were preparing a chalk board and chairs just in case they were needed. Also erected were training dummies, and just in case, an obstacle course. Some of the other frogs were preparing some food and drinks as well.

"Hehehe, hospitality is important for friends! We can have snacks bars with granola, hehehe, cookies for sugar. Juice... and what else? Hmm... hehehe water of course in case everyone get sweaty, and maybe some sandwiches if they stay a long time and get hungry! Hehehehe, it will be perfect."

After organizing the list of snacks and drinks, Majolica began directing her Witch Frogs as they began to get the area ready for their guests.

"Hehehe, hurry, hurry! Our guests will be here soon! Hehehe!"


@Ashiore Evretto @Janet Reilly @Haru

 

The sun bearing down from overhead made it difficult to make out the directions that @Grand Witch Majolica had written down for her. Still though, this seemed to be around the right area. The ride from Vintergard to Brisshal was long, but they were finally here. Ashiore smiled and gave Tianma a pat after she dismounted, the white mare whinnying softly as Ashiore began guiding her by the reins.

"Nearly there," she said, having learned that Tianma appreciated the conversation while journeying. "Thanks for carrying me all this way, Tianma."

It was a relief to discover that her various animals didn't seem put off by the degradation of her body. She'd feared that they wouldn't recognize her, or perhaps that they would and they would hate her. But Tianma had remained ever faithful, and her two minipets-turned-actual-pets didn't act as though anything was different.

Much like how Majolica hadn't commented on her appearance when they met, either. It was nice. To be able to pretend to still be normal.

Anyway, this looked like it was it. A squat little cottage right in one of Brisshal's forests, exactly as Majolica had described it. Ashiore found a tree to tie Tianma to--wouldn't want the horse to wander off and get lost in an unfamiliar forest due to her own curiosity, after all. That done, she approached the door, giving it a few solid knocks.

"Hello?" she called out. "Majolica? It's Ashiore. I'm here for the, uh, teaching we talked about before?"

Oh boy. She hoped she was ready for this. She hadn't ever really tutored anyone before, aside from giving friends tips about homework sometimes. This was a whole different ballgame.

@Haru @Janet Reilly

 

Majolica popped out of the cottage and waved brightly. Whistling to her broom, she hopped atop and floated towards Ashiore.

"Hehehe, you made it! Thank for coming! Hehe, actually you've beaten the other two here, but they should be here soon. Hehe, I hope the journey wasn't too difficult, though I don't know how they would be with the perfectly exact instructions I gave you! Hehehe! Anyway, I made sure that you have everything you need! There's a chalk board with chairs, a ruler..."

Majolica gently nudged Ashiore's side as she winked.

"Hehe, in case you need to smack someone's knuckles... hehehe. There's also some snacks! I didn't know what you liked so there's snack bars, cookies, water, and juice! Hehehe, help yourself. They all taste very good. I also had some training dummies set out in case you want to practice aiming or something like that! Hehehe, basically, it's all up to you! But maybe some introductions would be good when the other two get here? I don't know if you know Haru and Janet, hehe. Let me thinks... what else..."

The Grand Witch tapped her forehead.

"Oh, I'm actually about to leave to run some errands, hehe. So feel free to make yourself at home! The Witch Frogs are very friendly and if you're in need of anything else just ask! Hehehe, other than that feel free to make use of the area however you want. Just don't break my stuff... hehehe. Just kidding, I know you'll be careful, hehe. Anyway, I guess all that's left is wait for the other two! Hehe, like I said they should be here soon but I'll be going. Hehehe, make yourself at home and if I'm not back before you leave, hehehe, maybe you can write me a note saying what you worked on? Hehehe, I'm curious to see how it goes. Anyway, I'll be leaving now. Have fun! Bye bye!"

And so like a whirlwind, Majolica came and left. The cottage was quite peaceful today with a few Witch Frogs going about their business. The snacks, chairs, and chalkboard had been set up a little bit in front of the cottage. The training dummies a little further off to the side so that any misfired magic wouldn't harm the cottage. Everything was prepared, and now all that was left was for the others to arrive.


[EXIT THREAD]


@Ashiore Evretto @Haru @Janet Reilly

 

By the time Janet had finished her morning dusting of the house, huffing and puffing and lemon-scented chemicals heavy in the air, she was exhausted. That wasn’t about to stop her from sitting down with a whump in the recliner and fitting the VR headset over her head, however. As tedious as sometimes it was, Janet couldn’t help but feel grateful that she had a world to come back to as the illegal software booted up. I wasn’t trapped. My menu wasn’t locked.

Thank goodness so many others of the Witch Ops were also unaffected—she’d practically fallen to her knees when she’d heard the good news. I was ready to call the police in all their countries! It seemed that Bradwynne had frightened them all with mere rumors and all was well in the world of Terrasphere (apart from a few well-documented exceptions.) With Titanius defeated, Janet could finally relax back into her usual routine and embrace some semblance of normal.

No sooner had Honeyhome Village faded in around her, standing next to the stable where Janet had last signed off, then the teen’s sticker piped up with her Commander’s signature Hehehe! She stopped to listen to the message, frowning. No questions? I hope this is a good surprise! She didn’t think Majolica was the type to play cruel pranks, or to not warn them if the situation was dire. Still, there was no sense dilly-dallying—it looked like she’d only missed the message by a short time, and Janet loathed tardiness.

Saddling Rebel, the girl reined the chestnut mare around and took the forest trail, proceeding to follow the landmarks she’d memorized by heart until the trees grew dark and twisted and she began to notice amphibian eyes peeking out behind the tree-trunks. Something new hung from Janet's back—a rough-hewn oak greatshield, stained dark red from Titanius’ blood. She’d had the carpenter in Honeyhome shave down the tree she’d used to strike her last blow against the Gaze. The shield was crude and blocky and cumbersome, but it was hers.

It looked like the Witch Frogs were setting up some sort of obstacle course outside, which gave Janet a good idea of what was in store. Regardless, manners were manners. She marched up to the door and rapped confidently, calling "@Grand Witch Majolica ? It’s Janet, I’m coming in.” The door opened and the brunette poked her head in, long hair falling around her shoulders as she glanced around. “Oh! It’s like a classroom!” She came all the way in, leaning her shield against a wall. Haru’s not here yet, she thought—since he’d lost Headwind in the final battle, she supposed the other horse she’d seen outside belonged to @Ashiore Evretto .

"Is Majolica not here?” The words were pitched a little bit sharply as Janet straightened up, striding towards the stranger in the cottage. On second thought, she wasn’t surprised the witch had left them here alone—the first time the initiates had come to the cottage it had been similarly unattended. “She mentioned she’d spoken to you about helping Haru and I refine our nature magic, but I didn’t expect it so soon!” She placed her hands on her hips, looking the druidess up and down with slight skepticism.

“Come ready to work and learn…”

The girl seemed to deflate, letting out a sigh. “Oh, well, now is as good as any time I suppose. Pardon me, I’m going to work on a list of my strengths and weaknesses for you while we wait for @Haru . He’s much more talented than I am.” She slid into one of the desks like a diligent schoolgirl, taking a pen and parchment from one of the helpful Witch Frogs and immediately beginning to write.

 

Following his gut feeling and the message of his sticker like a compass, Haru walks through the forest housing the Witch Ops' home deep within itself. He had been wandering on his own in a reverie ever since the battle proper, keeping out of contact with everyone else. That was before he had gotten his surprise message from Majolica. It was a real shame too, as he was already determined to come back on the first sign of his fellow members wanting something from him. It would have been nice to keep the self-pity party of his going on a little bit longer...

However, this was a pretty important call to him at this time. Haru had been making little progress in his own connection to nature save for little weeds and flowers, instead having progressed in the magic of the dead over time. He'd even lost his connection to animals after that desperate battle against the dark god Titanius and was starting to feel as if this was happening because of his condition in real life. Now there was a depressing thought if he'd ever heard one.

Haru stole a quick glance down to his chest. On it lie an eye, which stared back at him. This... thing... was the reason he had been wandering alone, despite how lonely he felt. So far tests on what exactly this thing was and how it lived in his body were fairly inconclusive. The most he knew at the moment was that it showed up when he was alone and felt it. He's had plenty of chances to see it as of recent because he found it easier to get lonely as of the fight with Titanius. Honestly, this thing was probably the product of that godly monster, just like the odd creatures that deigned to hang around him. Were these supposed to be his pets or something?

If they were, they didn't match up to Headwind in the slightest. A scowl makes its way onto Haru's face as he shuts that train of thought down as quick as it came. It wasn't nice to think about the dead. It wasn't like he could just ignore how he felt forever, though. The eye was still staring until some form of company would come to snap him out of his reverie.

It came soon enough, and quite violently too. A sudden violent feeling overtook him down from his gut and up to his brain. A sudden, primal terror that pulled on his being and commanded him to 'get on the ground, NOW'. Haru had no qualms with obliging with himself and within a few seconds he was already flat on the dirt road he had just began to walk on not a few minutes ago. A fierce wind blew by him as an unidentified flying object shot past where his head used to be, a deadly rocket firing at dozens of miles per hour.

"Hehehehehehe..."

Wow. He really could have died there. "What the hell, Majolica..?!" Haru knew that she wouldn't be able to hear him from how far apart they were by now, but it still felt good to let it out. An idle look down to his chest confirmed that his eye was gone. That was good, at least. He wanted to look presentable when he arrived. -Actually, he practically had arrived. Haru only noticed now exactly how close to the cottage he was. Saves him some walking, he guesses.

Haru picks himself up off the ground and makes his way into the little cabin that served as the grand headquarters for the Witch Ops, keeping himself quiet for the moment. Janet was already there, it seems, and as was a face that he vaguely recognized from the depths of Titanius. He never really talked to her, but he wasn't the kind of guy to forget a face after he's seen it. That could lead into some seriously uncool situations. Still though, she was quite a unique one. What happened to her..? It seemed to be some sort of full-body necrosis of the skin. He assumed it was just the skin, anyway, as any deeper would most certainly kill her. A form of Leprosy, perhaps?

Haru decided not to think about it too hard and to help if she needed it. It seemed like she didn't need much, though, if she were up to teach the two of them.
"Yo. Sorry for making you wait, but there was this lovely patch of dirt that called to me. Ha ha ha..." He cheerfully calls out, waving to his acquaintances with a soft smile while trying not to cringe at the memory of hurtling himself to the ground to survive. If miss Ashiore were willing to help the two of them then he saw no reason not to make friends. She even managed to lift his mood with her mere looks. After all, if someone who appeared so close to death could master the magic of Nature, who was to say that he couldn't, either?

Haru liked the thought of that.

 

Ashiore's confidence had slowly eroded as time passed. She had thought she was prepared for this, to face strangers after her latest death and the continuing decay of her body. @Janet Reilly and @Haru didn't make a mention of it, but she still felt uncomfortable all the same.

Still, no other choice but to soldier on. She tried putting on a smile for the both of them. "So, you're both part of the, uh, what was it... Witch Ops, that Majolica put together? My name is Ashiore. I guess Majolica mentioned something to you two about finding someone to help you two with Nature Magic? There are things that I'm still finding for myself, but I hope that I can help you both as much as I can."

She glanced around the classroom-like setup in the cottage and frowned a bit. While it was neat, it wasn't exactly the ideal environment for practical demonstrations. "Maybe we should move outside? The weather is pleasant, and it'll be easier to do spells when surrounded by plants."

She began leading the way outside, stepping around the occasional frog. Janet and Haru seemed nice, and looked like they were going to be good students. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad an experience as she was building up in her mind.

Exiting the cottage, she made her way around the side and found a small clearing in the Brisshal forest. It was a small little area half-covered by the trees overhead, with enough sunlight streaming down to create a patch of warmth. Without much preamble, she sat down on the springy grass, gesturing for Janet and Haru to take a seat as well.

"So, uh, what exactly were you looking for, what areas do you want to improve on?" She sat up straighter, waiting for their answers so that she could try and plan something around that. As the thought occurred to her, she added, "And, you're both players, right? You can both still access your spell list...?"

 

Janet was very happy to see @Haru. She looked up from her list as the white-haired man entered, brightening. “Haru!” she exclaimed, “For goodness’ sake, you’re covered in dirt. It’s so good to see you again.” As someone who now frequently carried around an old helmet filled with potting soil, the brunette was a lot more sympathetic to Haru’s appearance than she might have been a few months ago. The brief memory of seeing him fall in Titanius’ belly, of passing his still corpse alongside the other Witch Ops members on her way to the portal, flashed across her mind. No, she certainly would not fault a few grass-stains!

Had she been more of a hugger, she would have hugged the Guide to say hello. As it was, Janet just smiled genuinely at the other naturamancer before returning her gaze to @Ashiore Evretto. Her demeanor seemed to have softened a little after Haru's arrival. “It’s nice to meet you, Ashiore,” she said. She wrinkled her nose a little at the sight of their new teacher’s hands, which were, quite frankly, disgusting. Janet was sure there were ladies’ gloves that could nicely cover up that little cuticle problem. It was obviously some kind of magic and paled in comparison to what she’d experienced in Naryu Canyon, but Janet privately added the condition to her mental “PG-13” list anyway.

The eighteen-year-old sighed loudly in agreement, following after the taller girl as they exited the cottage, still talking. “Oh, yes! I’m very new to this game, you see, and I find this whole ‘magic’ concept very frustrating. I’ve sort of gotten the hang of it over time, but any pointers or assistance would be a great help.” Haru had given her tips on more than one occasion and they had done her a world of good. Unfortunately, Janet was just one of those people who had to be told and shown how to do something before they could excel at it—for a naturamancer, she was no natural.

Janet knelt on the ground where she’d been asked to do so. The smell of the woods and the grass was fresh and pungent, bringing her back to memories of spring in the countryside. “Players?” It had never even occurred to Janet that other Witch Ops members might be N-P-C’s. As the only one who hadn’t died and then shortly reappeared, which she’d been assured only players could do, Janet was the only one even eligible. “O-oh. Of course, yes.” A-anyway… her list!

The brown-haired girl scanned the paper quickly before she spoke. “According to my self-review, I need to work on plant conjuration and maintaining energy. I can do plants, of course, but it takes me some time to concentrate on a good memory to make one grow, and I’m so limited by memories, you know… I’ve seen people use staffs to store spells in ahead of time, but I’d feel like such an old woman if I had one of those!” Janet gave a high-pitched laugh. “If I’m with Haru I usually just end up channeling magic towards his plants, it seems to work better than trying to make my own.”

 

"I'm capable." He affirms without hesitation, "I was quite surprised that I kept the UI, myself. I went in fully prepared to lose it. I don't exactly have much to lose, you see?" Pleasantries to his friends aside, Haru had his full attention on this lesson- and his apparent teacher with it. He hadn't tried to learn from anyone else but himself and the scientific method for quite a long time, and was rather curious at the novel change.

She wanted his strengths and weaknesses, did she..? "I don't suppose I have many strengths in the art." As he explains himself, he already begins to draw an equation in the air with his old spell ring. The writing was remarkably quick, and held results immediately when he let the words fall into the ground. A few flowers sprout and bloom as he continues, "Only flowers and weeds will respond to me. If I try any further, my results are... unsatisfying. Janet here has a far greater gift for this than I do. Ha ha ha."

Scooping down, Haru picks a white lily that had grown by his feet. "As much as I hate to say it, I'm closer to the side of the dead than I am of the living at this point. Perhaps had I found this world we're in a few years ago..." He can't help but sound frustrated. As uncool as it is, he still wishes that he had more time to enjoy this game than what he had left. Still, he should be focusing on the lesson today before what comes after.

 

She smiled at the way that they both complimented each other on their skills. It was nice to see that sort of support for other players, the obvious closeness that they had with each other. Still though, they were quite disparaging of their own abilities, and that wouldn't do.

As @Haru confirmed that he still had his UI, she breathed a small sigh of relief. Good. "Well, have the both of you been making use of Assist Mode? Terrasphere is a game, after all." Though that wasn't... quite true for her any longer. "If you're having trouble with, uh..." How to put it... "-getting your energy to flow correctly for a spell, try relying on the game to do it all for you."

She remembered her first days in the game, simply selecting spells off of a list and letting her body be pulled along by the game. Back when everything was fun, new, exciting. Hah. What she wouldn't give to return to those days.

Snapping back to the present, she quickly performed the motion of opening up her spell menu by flicking her open palm to the side. Nothing appeared, of course, but at least it demonstrated what she was talking about. "It can feel weird for your body to recite the incantation without you specifically controlling it, but it can help. You don't have to worry about getting the spell right, and just focus on how it feels first."

And as for @Janet Reilly's issue... Hm. Ashiore detached a pouch from her knapsack, loosening the drawstring and pulling out a handful of small seeds. "If you're having trouble growing plants from scratch, try using some seeds as a sort of catalyst," she said, offering them to the brown-haired girl. "One of the good points of Nature Magic is that it usually costs less energy than other kinds of magic, because you can usually just rely on the actual energy of plants in your environment to help."

Giving a demonstration, she let a seed fall to the soil and closed her eyes, muttering the incantation, "Vītēs Morantur."

Tanglefoot

A brief moment later, a few dark tendrils poked their way out of the ground, quickly growing longer and stronger as they wound around Ashiore's legs. She had kept her energy expenditure to a minimum, so this wasn't the far-ranging clump of vines that she would normally utilize on the battlefield. This was just a demonstration, after all.

She smiled and looked back to Haru and Janet, flicking her fingers to direct the vines to release her feet. "You should have a spell in your menu that speeds up the growth of an existing plant. You can try on these vines here, or you could try to conjure up your own from those seeds."

 

“Assist Mode”? What was that? Why didn’t anyone tell Janet anything? It was so inconvenient that this game didn’t come with an instruction manual like any other self-respecting electronic device. Her new toaster oven had come with an instruction manual. Her husband’s drill set had come with an instruction manual. There could have at least been a beginner’s screen that warned them they were about to be dropped into an ocean at the bottom of a cliff! Janet couldn’t even find anything on the Internet, googling Terrasphere just came up with all these annoying articles about some other illegal something-or-other global phenomenon that didn’t impact Janet’s wholesome, law-abiding lifestyle.

“What was that? What did you just do?” It looked like their teacher was doing something on the palm menu, which seemed to have all sorts of functions Janet was still slowly discovering. She’d found her "inventory" the other day, that had certainly been exciting! Trying to find the spellcasting screen, Janet accidentally opened up her inventory instead, selecting DROP. A dirty helmet suddenly appeared midair and rolled off to the side. “Bother! Not that.” The teen kept struggling until she finally found the area that Ashiore seemed to be talking about. “Now what do I do? Just click one?” She hoped she wouldn’t have to right-click, that sounded like far too much to do all at once.

Janet took the seeds from Ashiore, still frowning at her palm menu as she tried to turn the correct function on. Should I tell her I’ve actually used seeds before? She hadn’t known why they seemed to work better and take less time, but the druid’s explanation made sense. Since that was what she was a little more used to, she supposed she'd start with that. “Which one…” Oh, one of these was CROP GROWTH. That seemed somewhat accurate! “I’m going to click i— Ast du moiparran vi vi—EEEK, what was that?! Oh my goodness!" Her mouth had suddenly moved on its own. Had she said that?

And the seeds were growing.

Janet didn’t have to concentrate, but the sensation of her energy draining away was the same. It was scary, in a way, her intent coming true without the focus. It was so different from the way Haru had first taught her to use nature magic that Janet almost immediately disliked it. Majolica brought Ashiore for a reason, I have to keep an open mind, the brunette reminded herself sternly as she watched little vines spool out of the seeds and reach towards the sky. The bar for her EN was still dropping as they continued to grow. “How do I stop it?” Janet scanned the menu with her eyes squinted almost shut, ignoring the obvious red X above the token she’d selected. “It’s just… still going. Should I have picked a different spell?”


@Ashiore Evretto @Haru
OOC: I can't believe you made Janet use technology :'D

 

Haru hadn't seen the suggestion coming. Assist Mode? When he had made his spells by himself, almost as an extension of him? He was almost insulted-but Ashiore had brought up a surprisingly good point. Haru hadn't tried to explore such an option, simply thinking it to just be a little assist tool for the uncreative.

He hadn't even given it a look. How dumb he could get sometimes... Haru found himself looking at an array of spells on a list given before him. It was quite useful to look at, almost like a cheat sheet. There were spells that he hadn't thought were within the range of his ability, and even ones that he had thought that he made up-which were even labeled with the names he had dubbed them with.

It brought a small debate to his mind. Did he think of the spell himself which brought it into the spellbook, or was he subconsciously drawing his ideas from this list the whole time? These kinds of existenal crisises weren't his forte and he soon stopped caring about it altogether. What was far more interesting was what he could do with this list... experiment as much as he could think of!

"Ha, ha ha... Oh, my. Miss Ashiore, you be given me a lovely present." An amused chuckle rose from his throat as his inner scientist jumped with glee. He hadn't done some good old fashioned testing like this since he had first started off in this world. There were many spells on this list, some of which he hadn't seen before. Over on the right hand side he could see the little trick he had done with the pine tree back in the inverted forest, and all the way at the top his flower magic sat with a cute little icon.

Still though, there was only one spell he wanted and that was his most trusted one. It took him a little bit to find Strangleweed but it had the exact kind of icon that he'd expect from it; vines that sprang from the ground, pulling a man downward.

The casting process itself had some problems for him. Haru disliked how slowly his fingers wrote the formula in his mind in the air, and when it fell into the ground it didn't speed towards any target. Instead, weeds began passively growing in front of the man in white.

A realisation quickly popped into his head, though, seeing the subtle motions of the weeds that almost looked like an animal breathing. "Could this be..?" He voiced the curiosity that finally reached its bursting point in his body as he reached for the unassuming overgrowth he had created, and-

Arms. Neck. Torso, legs and feet. The weeds sprang to life and whipped upwards, snapping around him. It was a patient predator that had pounced over its prey and would not let go. He was completely anchored to the ground where he stood.

"Ha! Who would have thought that it could be applied like this?" His spell was a Trap by default! He had no clue because he had been hurling this spell at people like one would skip a rock over a lake, but he could have been putting his magic to use like this all along. Fascinating! He should keep going. What else could he discover today?

His musings was cut short by a surprised yell from his friend Janet. Broken from his reverie he turns around to her only to find wheat growing in veritable cropfulls. "Oh, my. Janet, that's wonderful. Any farmer would see you like a jewel now. ...Oh, you want to stop?" What a conundrum. Could spells even be stopped after cast?

From his entangled prison Haru activates his Investigation Mode to try and make sense of What s happening. The first thing he sees is that he's Debuffed. Yes yes, you're very funny, UI...
The wheat appeared to be the direct product of magic. Janet herself appeared to be channeling some sort of spell into the ground and wasn't stopping.

A little bit of worry worked onto him at the thought of sheer energy expenditures happening there, but had no idea how to help. He hadn't exactly seen any kind of 'cancel' button yet. "Is there anything on your screen that says cancel? Maybe try tapping the skill a second time..?" With a lack of experience the only thing Haru can offer are educated guesses. A lack of knowledge could be fun, but it could also be problematic at times. Just like this.

 

Ashiore settled back and waited, watching @Janet Reilly and @Haru as they experimented with Assist Mode. Sure, it was a blow to one's pride to have to rely on the game to be able to do something that you felt like you should be able to do on your own. But, concerning the state of the game for her right now, Ashiore was of the opinion that you should take advantage of anything beneficial the game could possibly provide. It certainly didn't care about making challenges easy to deal with, she thought bitterly.

After a false start, Janet seemed to be able to mimic the spell she demonstrated for them. She smiled a bit and then turned her attention to Haru, who instead of chanting, traced out the spell in the air. Looked like he used a spell ring, then. Ashiore thought back to her earlier days, where she had used a similar magical tool before swapping to her focus. Hmm, what kind of tips did she recall about writing out magic...?

Haru's delighted exclamations momentarily brought her out of her recollections. "I'm glad you're finding it useful," she said in response, with a smile even as he entangled himself in his own creation. "I know there are a lot of spells that I would never have considered casting if I hadn't seem them in the assist menu. Assist Mode won't let you combine spells, but now that you can start memorizing all their incantations, you can begin combining them on your-"

Her brief explanation of what to do next was interrupted by Janet's concerned question. She glanced over and found that the vines that the girl had been growing were spiraling up and up ceaselessly, as Janet sat there seemingly without actively doing anything.

Concerned, Ashiore stood up and began moving closer. Oh damn it, what did the spell menu look like again? It had been so long that she couldn't recall. "Uh, right, what Haru said. Can you find a button that says 'cancel', or maybe an X? Is there anything flashing?"

If that failed... Oh boy. Continuous, unnatural growth like that consumed quite a bit of energy, even when using seeds or another plant as a catalyst. Janet would fall unconscious eventually, and with a bit of rest she'd be all right, but that definitely wasn't the impression that Ashiore wanted to leave the two of them with.